


Rintori week 2017

by Scmnz



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, RinTori Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-10-29 14:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10855887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scmnz/pseuds/Scmnz
Summary: My responses to rintori week 2017.Chapter 1, childhood and future.Chapter 2, red or blueChapter 3, Prince and knightChapter 4, Distance and close





	1. Childhood and future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been very busy this month, and so I didn't have much time to work on this or to edit. I hope it's ok and that you enjoy it!

The competition was almost over. The last few relay teams had lined up at their starting blocks. Nitori sat watching on the sidelines with his classmates. As usual his elementary school didn’t do well in competition. Nitori was feeling quite dejected and ashamed of his performance. His parents were watching the swim meet, and they were sure to be disappointed. They were always disappointed in him.

 

But as the whistle blew and the first swimmers leapt forward into the pool, the small silver haired boy quickly became enthralled. Nudging the boy next to him, he pointed and whispered “what school are they from?”

 

“Iwatobi” the other boy whispered, his eyes fixed firmly on that team too. They watched in awe. Nitori couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The power, the determination, so much confidence. It was beautiful. That boy didn’t feel small, like a failure. He was nothing like Nitori, and he was everything Nitori wished he could one day be. The Iwatobi team won. How could they not, with that boy swimming for them?

 

Later, he sat beside a friend on the bus back to school. Nitori turned to his friend. “Wasn’t that boy from Iwatobi amazing? He was so cool!”

 

His friend nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that free swimmer was great! some of the other guys were talking about how cool he was too.” Nitori shook his head furiously.

 

“I wasn’t talking about him! I meant the redhead. He was unbelievable.” Nitori’s friend gave him an odd look, then shrugged.

 

“Yeah, he was pretty good too.”

 

Nitori sighed, leaning back into the seat. He stared out the window, unseeing. Wistfully he asked “Do you think I’ll ever meet him? I’d love to talk to him.”

 

His friend frowned. “I doubt it. I heard that boy is moving away. You’ll probably never see him again.”

 

Nitori sighed again and nodded. It was probably a good thing anyway. There was no way someone as weak and small as him could be anything but annoying to someone as strong as the redheaded boy.

 

* * *

 

In all of his years admiring the mystery swimmer, and then the time of admiring his senpai, Nitori had never imagined things would work out the way they had. He’d always thought of himself as less than Rin. But now he’d gained confidence in himself, thanks to Rin.

 

Sure, he didn’t have all the medals Rin had won. He had never been an Olympian. But that didn’t matter, Nitori didn’t need that. In their relationship, he stood on the same level. Rin viewed him as his equal, and always had done so.

 

No, Nitori had never imagined such a perfect future.

 

He heard a soft chuckle, and blinked. Nitori realized he’d been staring into space, curled up on their couch next to Rin. His head was leaning on the redhead’s big shoulder. He looked up questioningly. Rin wrapped a lazy arm around him and asked “What are you thinking about so hard?”

 

“Just how lucky I am to be with you.” He murmured shyly.

 

“You’re wrong. I’m the one who got incredibly lucky.” Rin smiled, leaning in to kiss his husband’s forehead.


	2. Red or Blue?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could be seen as a squeal to my entry for day one.

“Red is the obvious choice!”

 

“Why on earth would we make it red? That makes absolutely no sense!”

“I like red. It’s the color of my hair.” Rin muttered, looking at the floor.

 

“What does that have to do with anything??” Nitori threw his hands up in frustration. “Red is a horrible color to paint the walls. What if it scares him!?”

 

Rin rubbed the back of his neck. They had had this argument several times this week, and it was getting frustrating. He and Ai rarely fought, so he never knew how to deal with it when they did. “Blue is just such a… stereotypical color for a baby’s room. I don’t like that.”

 

Ai sighed. “It’s so dark though. It will be impossible to paint over. Do we really want his room to be red _forever_?” He picked the paint samples off of the table and pointed to one. “If we have to do red, can we at least do a lighter shade like this?”

 

Rin shook his head. “That’s not red. That’s pink. Our son isn’t going to live in a pink room!”

 

“It’s just a color! Pink isn’t just for girls. And look, this is a really pretty one, just like cherry blossoms.”

 

Rin continued to frown with his arms crossed. “If it’s ‘just a color’, why not go with red?” Both he and Aiichiro could be quite stubborn. Usually they weren’t about the same thing so they didn’t end up stuck. But right now they were at an impasse.

 

“I’ve told you why red is a bad idea. Look, I like blue best but… Is there any compromise we can find?”  
 

“Not unless you can think of something that’s both red _and_ blue.” Rin growled, annoyed at himself as he realized that once again, he was being the unreasonable one.

 

Nitori looked suddenly thoughtful. “How about purple then?”

 

Rin blinked, confused. “Purple? Where did that come from?”

 

“A mixture of red and blue. Just like how our child will be a mixture of both of us.”

 

Faced with that type of sentimentality, there was nothing he could do except agree. “Alright, we’ll paint the nursery purple. But if our son comes home and hates it we repaint red.” He grumbled.

 

 Ai giggled and kissed his cheek. “Thank you love. I’m so glad the paperwork is done so we can bring him home soon!”

 

Rin smiled. “Yeah. Nothing could be better than having a family with you.” He rolled his eyes. “No matter what color the damn walls are.”


	3. Prince and Knight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I'm behind a couple days. I hope to write all prompts, but I may be late on several.

The prince sighed, exhausted. He had no space for him to simply be himself. Even now, walking among his subjects disguised as one of them, guards followed him. They claimed the red hair of the royal family was too obvious. He would be recognized for sure. Still, the prince wished for escape.

 

It would be very unwise to slip away from his guards, but the prince was not known for reasonable thought out action. He was a hothead, and often acted on a mere whim. In the crowded market he knew it was hard to keep track of someone, it was easy to get lost. And so he darted into the masses of people, and quietly slipped away from his protectors.

 

Soon the prince was traveling among backstreets, headed for the edge of the city. He didn’t care about what his knights might be doing in their search for him. It wasn’t like the guards would be worried about _him._ Oh they’d worry about getting in trouble for losing the prince, but that was just the point. They worried about the prince and their jobs. They didn’t care about _Rin_ as a person.

 

It was always a relief to be alone. No one was trying to manipulate him. No one was pretending to like him in order to get favors or power. The only person he knew who wasn’t trying to use him was his sister, and she was far away on a diplomatic mission. With her gone, the only person he could really trust was himself.

 

From the darkness of an alley stepped three large men. They saw Rin and glowered. One leaned towards him and snarled “What are you doing here? This is our territory. We’ll make you pay, intruder.” The man pulled a knife out of his belt and pointed it at the prince’s chest. Rin was frozen. He wasn’t a very good fighter, he’d always trained been trained to run. Combat was supposed to be left to his guards.

 

The two other men circled around the prince, leaving him cornered. There was no escape. Rin closed his eyes, waiting for the knife to stab into him. It never did. He heard a soft thud on the pavement, and then a startled yelp from one of his attackers.

 

Rin opened his eyes to see an absolutely beautiful boy. He was about the same age as the prince. He had soft, fluffy silver hair, eyes the color of the sky, and a small beauty mark under his eye. He was dressed in rags. The young man appeared to have leapt down from a rooftop and knocked out one of Rin’s assailants. In that moment, the prince thought he looked like an angel.

 

The silver haired boy darted forward, moving with soft ease and grace, and kicked the knife out of the large man’s hand. He was so tiny though, Rin thought, any of these men could easily crush him without a weapon. The man lunged for the peasant, but he dodged with little trouble. With a sharp kick upwards, the man who had had the knife was lying on the ground in pain, clutching his stomach.

 

The remaining enemy looked between the redhead and the peasant, and charged for the prince. His huge hands wrapped around Rin’s throat. “Halt, or I will kill this man.” the goon growled. The small man froze, eyes fixed on the prince and his captor.

 

Then swiftly he flited forward, as light on his feet as a bird. Rin wanted to scream at the boy to get out of here. Surly there was no way he could beat this huge man. The hands around his neck squeezed, and the prince felt faint.

 

As blackness began to appear at the edges of his vision, the silver haired commoner reached them. He jabbed his fingers forward, hitting the hands on Rin’s windpipe. The hands released, and the prince jerked out of his grasp, stumbling away. The small peasant hit the large man again, striking a cluster of nerves which caused the man to stiffen, and fall prone. Swiftly he kicked the man’s head, knocking him out cold. All three of Rin’s attackers now lay helpless, no longer a threat.

 

Rin looked at his angelic little savior. “Who are you?” He whispered.

 

“Aiichiro Nitori.” The man responded. “Are you alright sir? Who are you? Do you want help getting home?” He had a slight accent that he didn’t recognize.

 

These were too many questions for Rin to process in his shaken state. Only one thing stood out to him. “You don’t know who I am. Then why would you risk your life to save a complete stranger?” Surly the man was bluffing. Why would anyone do anything for the prince if it weren’t to gain favor? No one in his entire life who wasn’t family would do something like that. But Nitori’s eyes were such a pure, innocent blue. There was no way those eyes could lie. Rin didn’t know what to believe.

 

Nitori blushed. “That’s a rather long story…”

 

The prince frowned. “I want to know. Tell me.”

 

Aiichiro sighed. “Alright. You can probably tell by the way I speak, I’m not from this country.” That would explain why the man didn’t recognize the royal red hair. “When I was young I was captured by slave traders. A few years ago I escaped, and ran as far away as I could. That’s how I ended up as a beggar in this city.”

 

“How do you know how to fight, if you were a slave?”

 

“I taught myself, so that I would never have to be captured and have to live like that again. And so that I could rescue others from suffering the way I did. That’s why I protected you.”

 

Rin felt his heart pounding. He was used to the corruption of the royal court. Meeting someone who was truly good, and did things out of the kindness of his heart. It was absolutely amazing, and he did not want to let the experience go.

 

“My name is Rin Matsuoka.” Nitori blinked.

 

“The prince? Your highness, I am sorry if I have been rude or-”

 

“No” Rin cut his off. “Don’t call me highness, I’d like you to call me Rin.”

 

“Rin…” The man said uncertainly.

 

“Your fighting skills are stunning.” You’re stunning, Rin thought. “Would you be my personal guard, my knight?”

Nitori blushed bright red. “To be asked that is a great honor my lor… Rin I mean. But it’s too much, I’m not worthy of such a position.” The prince could see in his face that he meant it.

 

That was the final straw for Rin. This gorgeous person was so selfless that he wouldn’t take something offered to him by the prince. He had never met such a person. Not even Kou could compare. He didn’t want to lose this. He wanted Nitori by his side. The prince didn’t want to be alone anymore.

 

“I really mean it Nitori. I want you to be my knight. And I want you to be my… my friend.” Part of the prince knew he wanted more, but he had never had a friend, so even just that would be enough.

 

 Aiichiro looked completely stunned, but he nodded. “I will protect you your high- Rin. Forever.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for vanishing for so long. I had to deal with allot of family stuff and didn't have time to work on this. Even though Rintori week is now long gone, I still wanted to finish this, so I'm working hard on the last couple of prompts. I will be turning the other prompts into short fics of their own since I have no idea how long they will take, I'm such a slow writer. I hope you've enjoy this, and that you will enjoy this last short prompt.

Nitori hopped from foot to foot anxiously. He was growing very impatient. Rin’s flight home had been delayed twice already and it was  _ supposed  _ to be landing now. It was nowhere to be seen. 

 

It had been been so many months since he had last seen his boyfriend. And even after that long a time, this extra wait was harder to bear, because he had been so close. He began to pace. Phone calls and skype were good, of course. But it wasn't the same.

 

Ai was acting immature and moody, he knew that. He was, in fact, thinking a little like Rin did. He was hyper focusing on something relatively small, and making it into a huge problem in his mind. But he wanted to see Rin!

 

He chuckled a little bit, thinking about his own current grouchiness and comparing it to his boyfriend’s. He had no doubt that at this very moment Rin was fuming, trapped on his seat in the late aircraft.

 

But Nitori was by nature a much more cheerful person than his beloved. When he saw the terminal display change, telling him that Rin’s flight had landed, his brooding walk changed instantly to bouncing up and down with excitement.

 

Soon people were flooding out of the gates and the silver haired teen was standing on his tiptoes, straining to catch a glimpse of Rin. 

 

There!  A sight of red hair! Before Nitori had a chance to think about what he was doing, he was pelting forward. With a shriek of “Senpai!” He hurled himself at Rin, flinging his arms up around his boyfriend’s neck. Indeed Rin did look very annoyed from his long flight, but that annoyance  melted away as he rocked backward, knocked off balance by Nitori’s leap. 

 

They almost fell to the floor, but Rin wrapped his arms around his boyfriend to try and stabilize them. He laughed, pulling the small teen into a closer embrace. “I missed you too, Ai.” he whispered. He was aware that people were staring at them, but at the moment he didn’t care. All that mattered was that they were back together.


End file.
